The Russian disinformation network Matryoshka has launched for the first time a large-scale campaign targeting the Republic of Moldova. This comes in an electoral year, with crucial parliamentary elections scheduled for the autumn. President Maia Sandu is accused by bots of corruption and repression, according to The Insider, cited by RFI. As part of the campaign, 10 videos were released — four disguised as content from well-known media institutions and six as speeches by university professors — along with a fake magazine cover.

On social media platforms like Twitter (X) and Bluesky, videos are circulating that mimic the branding of international media outlets or universities, claiming that Maia Sandu won the presidential elections through propaganda campaigns and is now engaged in a crackdown against her opponents, according to The Insider, which cites the Bot Blocker project (antibot4navalny).

One fake video claims to have been produced by the French government’s anti-disinformation agency Viginum and is being shared on Twitter with the caption:
"Viginum has prepared a multi-level study of propaganda in favor of Maia Sandu on TikTok."
It also claims that $1 million a day was spent on filming and distributing disinformation videos supporting President Sandu.

"Interestingly, the former far-right presidential candidate of Romania, Călin Georgescu, was accused of manipulating public opinion via TikTok with Russia's help. As a result, the results of the first round, which Georgescu won, were annulled, and he was barred from participating in the new elections."

In another video in French, supposedly a lecture by a university professor from France, President Maia Sandu is accused of political repression related to the arrest of Gagauzia’s governor, Evghenia Guțul, who is suspected of vote buying and illegal financing of Shor’s pro-Kremlin party.
After her detention, Guțul reportedly appealed to Vladimir Putin to pressure Moldovan authorities for her release.

"The French professor claims that Maia Sandu is involved in corruption and controls the corrupt parliament of the Republic of Moldova," according to the video description.

It should be noted that former head of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office, Veronica Dragalin, who resigned in February, is also mentioned in some of the fake videos.
Dragalin allegedly promised to send evidence to 300 European media outlets proving that Maia Sandu accepted bribes and won the presidential election through fraud.

The former Anti-Corruption Prosecutor has not commented on this information.
She resigned because she disagreed with a bill proposing the merger of the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor’s Office and the Prosecutor's Office for Organized Crime and Special Cases into a new structure, which she called "a threat to justice."
Dragalin is also featured on a fake cover of La Tribune magazine, circulated by Matryoshka.

In addition to the accusations of corruption and repression of opponents, the videos featuring fake professors recycle the usual Kremlin propaganda narratives.
They claim that Sandu belongs to the LGBT community and that under her leadership, "non-traditional values" will inevitably replace "traditional values" in Moldova.

In another video, it is claimed that Sandu plans to "follow Ukraine’s example" to take control of the Orthodox Church, specifically to subordinate the Chisinau Diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church to the Romanian Orthodox Church.
According to the authors, this would be "one of the steps toward the final unification of Moldova with Romania."

According to the Bot Blocker project, previously, only one fake video about Moldova was found, which Matryoshka distributed in June 2024.